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It was uprooted in the western Ajaria region on Wednesday, but transporting a 650-tonne tree complete with the entire root system was no mean feat.

Moscow’s reputation as a welcoming city for deposed autocrats was reinforced in 2004, when the mayor at the time, Yuri M. Luzhkov, provided his private jet to Aslan Abashidze, the separatist leader of the Ajaria region of Georgia, in a timely gesture.

The people of Ajaria are ethnically Georgian and the region also has a substantial Russian-speaking population.

Tensions erupt on the internal border between Georgia and Ajaria In 1878 Ajaria was annexed by Russia and, following the Bolshevik revolution, incorporated into Georgia as an autonomous republic within the USSR.

Former Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze stepped down and fled After Eduard Shevardnadze was overthrown as Georgian president and the results of the November 2003 Georgian parliamentary elections were annulled, a state of emergency was declared in Ajaria.